Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

"Get out, you cunning rat!" the mercenary shouted, startling the surrounding farmers and women into crouching in the fields, afraid to move. This very quality saved them from unforeseen disaster this time, while Reslaufer quickly located a movement in the wheat field.

"Let me do it!" As soon as the Cinder Crown opened his mouth, the flame in his mouth almost burned everything around him. The other members of the Falin group were so frightened that they hurriedly covered the mouth of this reckless sister to prevent her from spitting out a single spark.

"Over there!" Vondar's beard trembled slightly, and he rushed out faster than Reslaufer. "Old Lei, keep an eye on them. I'll go after them!"

The wheat fields were hardly a barrier to the dwarf's progress. After just a few ups and downs, a black hem of clothing appeared before Vondar Halfhill. Without a second thought, the dwarf swung his axe and chopped down fiercely.

However, the feeling under the cloth, like cutting into wood, made Vondal's heart tremble: Not a human?

Not even humanoid!

"Scar!" But the opponent seemed to still feel pain, or the groove on the bottom edge of the axe was embedded in its body, hindering its movement. So the next second, the dwarf saw a strange face that was half wood and half human rotated back 180 degrees, opened its mouth and threatened him, revealing its full set of sharp fangs.

At the same time, a claw that was completely out of sync with its original form stretched out from somewhere, and with a "thump", it pierced the cork shield that the dwarf had barely raised!

"What the hell are you?!" Even Feng Daer was startled by the monster's appearance. If his smoke powder bombs hadn't been used up back in Xinmu City, he would have almost thrown one out immediately! However, even without the most powerful killing weapon, the dwarf's movements were still fast. Before the monster could pull out its claws, the dwarf's shield swung and spun, exposing its relatively vulnerable front and thin neck to the axe blade!

The sound of chopping firewood rang out in the wheat field, and almost at the same time, Reslaufer swung the two-handed sword in his hand again, chopping off the right arm of another monster that suddenly appeared nearby.

The strangely twisted and withered limbs fell crisply to the ground without shedding a drop of blood, and the monster seemed to be numb and had no feeling of pain at all. After realizing that its sneak attack had failed, it quickly jumped off the roadside and hid in the wheat field.

But at this point, having offended everyone, escaping was absolutely impossible. A cold ray of frost burst out from Frostbone's claws, and Angarita's long poem of guarding will was also applied to him, easily severing the fragile neck after being frozen.

"The second one!" Vondar dragged the strange but dead monster back to the road. Seeing that another monster had also died there, his expression became strange. "But they look completely different... Could this be two attacks combined?"

Vondar was not wrong. The monster he killed looked like a human-shaped wooden target made of tree roots and dead branches, while the one killed on this side looked more like a scarecrow in the field.

These things were often inserted on both sides of the wheat fields to drive away animals, so it was no wonder that almost no one noticed the attack at the beginning.

"They're all working together," Reslaufer said grimly, picking up a hard, sharp "wheat awn" from the ground. "Their goal is the same: first, an ambush, then a lure... Are there any other tricks they haven't used yet? Use them all!"

The mercenary said the last sentence to the surrounding fields, but as expected, as the wind blew, the surrounding farmers were still crawling and dared not move, while the dummies just swayed in the wind, making a rustling sound.

"You worthless creature..." Leslough snorted, and a huge black shadow stirred up a gust of bloody wind behind him. Black Claw had escaped from the cage at some point, and with his claws, he chopped down two nearby scarecrows at top speed.

But perhaps there really weren't any other "assassins," or perhaps the Reptile Hunter was just unlucky, because when everyone began to examine the two dummies, they discovered they were nothing more than ordinary scarecrows. They couldn't shoot arrows, run or jump, or suddenly swing their claws, or threaten anyone.

"Scarecrows... Could they really be scarecrows?" Daisy turned over the two monsters that had once moved but were now quiet, as if recalling something. "Old Lei, can't you see spirits? Let's take a look at what their spirits look like first."

"Appearance?" Rathlough did not understand what the poet meant. Spirits usually had the same appearance as the deceased, but he closed his eyes anyway.

Many of the surrounding spirits had been consumed earlier, so the two extra ones were easy to spot. However, Reslaufer noticed that none of them resembled the two dead monsters. Instead, there were two unfamiliar old farmers who were bound to him for some reason.

Rathlough was certain he hadn't killed anyone like that lately.

"That's it," Daisy nodded in understanding after listening to Reslaufer's story. "This is what's called a 'Scarecrow', a special kind of construct monster driven by spirits. But as far as I know, usually only evil spirits can drive it... Ah, humans, I guess this is not surprising."

It's not like you have to massacre hundreds of people like that dragon vein sorcerer to be called a bad person.

"They're obviously coming for you, Mr. Philip," Angelita asked, looking at Philip, who was standing there in a daze, somewhat puzzled, "Didn't you say before that you left Qingzun City to chase Edward?"

"Indeed, I am, Miss Barty!" Philip's voice trembled. "Please believe me, I really don't know why! If I knew, I would never dare to put you in danger..."

"Okay, okay," Bella interrupted him impatiently, "What's the point of saying this now? Are you going to send us back?"

"Think carefully, do you have any enemies? Or anyone who wants to kill you?"

"Who wants to... that's a lot of things. My brothers and sisters, for example, have every reason to do so these days." Philip almost twisted his eyebrows together, "But I've never seen any of them use this... Wait, what is this?"

Philip squatted down and carefully picked up a piece of cloth from the first monster with two fingers. On it, there was a symbol composed of circles and spirals, with five twisted lines extending outward in five directions, which looked like a sun drawn by a child.

Chapter 221 Wheat Cutting Society

"Wait, I remember this!" Daisy was shocked. "Old Lei, do you still remember? The guy who blocked the road and was the first one we killed!"

"He has a symbol like that on him too!"

"I do remember it!" Leslaufer would naturally not easily forget the symbol that he did not recognize. Before, he could defend himself that it might really be just graffiti, but now it seems that that is obviously not the real answer.

"Hey! You guys!" Philip, feeling anxious because his life was threatened, took several deep breaths to stop himself from shouting at the farmers around him. "Look up! Look up and take a good look at this!"

A pair of eyes cast puzzled glances at him, while Philip raised the piece of cloth in his hand as high as he could.

"Does anyone among you recognize this? Tell me, and there will be a reward!"

Daisy used an illusion trick to project the object so that more people could see clearly what it was.

Philip's expression was utterly unsightly and awkwardly portrayed against the backdrop of the magic light. "Someone is trying to murder a member of the Fengquan family! People of Qingzun City, tell me the origin of this symbol, and you will be rewarded by the Fengquan family!"

Several heads bowed in response. The nobles' rewards were essentially 50-50: 50% likely to be granted, 50% likely to come with unacceptable conditions, and 50% likely to be only half of what was promised. That wasn't enough to convince them otherwise.

They were not residents directly under the jurisdiction of the Fengquan family and had no obligation to this young man.

However, soon, several crisp and pleasant metal collision sounds reached their ears. Some people looked up in surprise, only to see the girl standing next to the young man from the Fengquan family casually tossing three or four golden round metals in her hands - a circle larger than Walu!

"Answer me, reward me," Daisy's voice seemed to carry some kind of magic, penetrating particularly deeply into the ears of those who looked down and then up again. "Give me a name, one imperial gold coin; give me a detailed explanation, two; and lead me to the person who used this symbol, three."

"Nine." Facing the incredulous expressions of several farmers, Angelita casually raised the number to an astonishing price.

"I, I, I!" As soon as the words fell, a farmer rolled and crawled, crushing a large circle of wheat around him, and finally fell to the edge of the road. "Dear ladies and gentlemen, I know what that is! We call it uh..."

"Don't be impatient," Leslaufer took a step forward. When the sword in his hand was placed on the ground, it was less than ten centimeters away from the farmer's head. "What's your name?"

"Bababa, Barry!" The farmer had probably seen soldiers before, and he might even have fantasized about becoming one. But how could he have ever seen a weapon so close to him? He felt like his breath was almost cut off by the sword!

"Very good, Barbary," said Leslaufer jokingly, "You're quite brave to be the first to speak out. But judging from your appearance, there must be more than one person here who knows about this, right?"

"Yes, yes, sir," Barry trembled as if he was seventy or eighty years old. At this moment, he could only pray that what hit him next was a whip instead of that scary sword. "But I am the first!"

"That's why I said you were brave. You should know that we'll verify every word you said with others later. If you dare to lie to us, I don't need to say much about the consequences."

"I dare not—"

"Let others verify the authenticity of your statement," said Reslaufer, ignoring him. "Go on, what did you say you called it?"

"We call it... the Wheat Harvesting Society!" Barry said quickly. "Their leader is Big Wood, and he lives right by the moat!"

"The Wheat Harvester? What? Is this a society that spans all of Western Inassus? The last time we saw one was not close to here."

"They..." Barry's face showed a trace of fear and pleading, "They are just a part of it. Look at those five tentacles above, they are said to be five gangs! But that's all I know..."

"What do they do?"

"Usually... they don't do much," Barry thought for a moment. "During the busy farming season, I can ask them to help with the wheat harvest, or to build scarecrows..."

"These scarecrows almost killed me!" Philip shouted angrily, frightening Barry so much that he didn't dare to say anything for a long time. It wasn't until Angelita threw two gold coins in front of him that Barry learned to speak again.

"We don't know about this, sir...but we heard that Wood was always talking about 'burning the upper city to ashes' and 'nobles are no different from cheap horses' - that's what he said, and many other unpleasant things."

"Interesting," Daisy said, seeming to be somewhat interested in this kind of person. "Did he say anything else? Like, he was going to kill the nobles, and then what?"

"And then?" Barry repeated in confusion. "What then? Just...burn him to ashes, like that. Maybe he'll want to become the new Archon next."

Daisy's interest suddenly disappeared. "Whatever, then. Do you plan to earn the remaining gold coins?"

"The nobility of the nobility is innate. Just relying on a peasant like you..." Philip subconsciously disdained such remarks, but Edward's words silenced him.

"You'd better save your breath, Philip. He just nearly killed you with two scarecrows—or was one enough?"

Barry's answer didn't satisfy everyone, and its credibility was questionable. So everyone waited for a few other farmers who were willing to earn a few less gold coins, and got similar results from them.

It seems that Wood was once just one of the farmers, but one day he suddenly went mad, became withdrawn and eccentric, and ran away to live alone by the moat of Qingzun City. It was only in recent years that he returned to public view.

However, his influence was quite limited. He and his association were known only within a few villages, while other villages and Qingzun City knew almost nothing about him. It seemed that everything he did after returning was just like his association's name, simply to help farmers with their farm work.

"But now we know that guy didn't recruit people just for this purpose." Bella spread out her palm and stroked the soft fur on it. "But with just a few constructs and a few scarecrows, why did he think he could 'burn Qingzun City to ashes'?"

"It's not just a single organization, Sister Bella," Shanli reminded. "Don't forget where Mr. Leslough and Miss Daisy first discovered the symbol. That Wood might not be close, but with Dragon Finger Fidel added in, it's hard to say."

Chapter 222: The Lakeside Cabin

Farmer Barry was indeed quite courageous. When he saw a few imperial gold coins actually shining in his hands, he immediately took the initiative to take Leslough and others to find the big man Wood.

No matter how envious others are, they will never be able to earn this unexpected fortune.

"It's near the moat, sir. If he hasn't moved recently, the wooden house with two old crooked trees in front of the door is his home!" Barry followed the caravan step by step on the road, shrinking his neck and occasionally glancing at the Deinonychus that looked more terrifying than lions and tigers.

He was afraid that the two sickle-like claws would cut his head in the next second, but... it seemed that there was no way to avoid it.

But it was all worth it. It was nine Imperial gold coins! He had only seen nine valor coins once before! It was from Old Ford next door. One night, when he was drunk, he showed off to the neighbors a ten-valor gold coin he had won in a bet with a "city dweller" when he went to town.

Barry still remembers the gambler very clearly: Old Ford and the man stood at the intersection, guessing whether the next person passing by them would be a man or a woman.

Yes, it's that simple. Just as simple as this time.

Barry carefully examined his conscience again. He didn't want it to disappear so easily, but when he thought about it carefully, the Wheat Harvesting Society didn't actually help them at all, did it?

Their help is not free. If they show up in your fields, it would be impossible to refuse them and you would have no choice but to pay them - what kind of help is that?

Thinking of this, Barry quickly felt at ease.

The caravan continued slowly along the road. This time, Philip remained tucked away in the carriage, and no more unusual movements were heard from the wheat fields on either side. Until a gentle breeze carrying moisture blew away the scent of the crops, the golden waves of wheat were left behind, and a vast lake finally appeared before everyone's eyes.

"This is the moat," the caravan leader pointed to the large lake ahead, his tone without a hint of joking, "but we usually call it Lake Rum."

"And Qingzun Island, where Qingzun City is located, is in the center of the lake."

"The moat is... a lake?" Angritta looked at this unfamiliar scene and for a moment didn't know how to express her feelings. "So if we want to travel back and forth..."

"You pay a fee in different categories and can briefly walk on the lake," the caravan leader said. He pointed to the shore of Lake Rum, where a beautiful, exquisite chapel stood. "This is also part of the blessing bestowed upon Qingzun City by the god of wine: 75 sous per person, half price for children, and 30% off for groups."

Daisy suddenly felt that the world had become somewhat unreal: "Why does it sound like a stroll in the park..."

"For them, it is indeed," Bella glanced at Barry beside her, "It would cost 150 sous to go back and forth. Just making up their mind for a round trip is probably not easy."

"So if farmers can 'live next to the moat,' it's already a great achievement."

Leslaufer glanced at the plants and trees along the lakeside. There were a few wooden houses sparsely located under the shade of the trees. One of them should be the home of the leader of the so-called Wheat Harvester Society.

"You guys go into the city first. We're going to take a look around, so there's no need for you to follow us."

"I will first send Master Philip back home safely." The leader of the caravan nodded when he heard this. The value of the goods on their cart had to be measured in gold pounds. They had already arrived outside Qingzun City and could not afford any loss.

"Me too..." Edward opened his mouth, but when the fake dragonborn looked at Leslaufer, then at the other four spellscale members beside him, he finally couldn't finish his words, "...I'll go with you."

However, the caravan soon arrived at the lakeside. Several priests wearing purple robes, half of them holding wine cups, came out from the church to greet them. As a bag of coins was handed to the leading priest, several similar magic rituals were soon prepared.

"Let's go too," Leslaufer nodded at Barry, bringing the farmer back to his senses from his reverie. "You don't have to be so envious. After you settle the bill, you can use the money to go back and forth on the lake... Anyway, you can go back and forth as many times as you want."

"One hundred and twenty times," Edward answered as quickly as he could, even faster than Angelita. "But actually, for an individual, two imperial gold coins are enough to get a one-year pass, allowing two round trips per day. If you have proof of long-term residence in the city and proof of a stable employment source, the pass can be extended to three or five years, but of course, the payment will also increase to 90 valuru and 150 valuru."

This was a completely unacceptable price for farmers outside the city, and even for more than half of the citizens. But for someone like Edward or Philip, it was just the most common thing - even if he was only thirteen years old.

"...Adults, this way." Barry's face lit up slightly. Perhaps to these adults, these gold coins were just the cost of traveling back and forth across the moat, but Barry had greater expectations for them.

But the most important point is: they seem to actually intend to pay the money.

There were many crooked trees near the lakeside houses, but it was rare to find two in front of the door. After just a few minutes of walking with Barry, they found their destination—a half-new, half-old wooden shack. It could hardly be called a "wooden shack" from a conventional perspective, especially since it was so hidden in the shadow of the ingenious structure of the City of the Falling Bottle.

But this is possible outside the city.

"This is it, sir." Barry bowed to Leslaufer. "Um, may I..."

"Knock on the door."

"but……"

Nine gold coins were thrown into his arms all at once. The farmer looked up at Reslaufer in surprise, but only received the next order.

"Go knock on the door." "Okay!"

Faced with such temptation, it would be unreasonable to remain afraid. Barry quickly agreed, hurriedly pocketing the gold, and ran towards the tightly closed door. Soon, with two knocks and a teeth-grinding sound of door hinges turning, the door of the wooden house was easily opened before everyone.

This time, there was no need for Lesloff to say anything else. Barry plucked up the courage to look inside and, using the sunlight from outside, surveyed the interior of the house, which had no windows at all.

"It seems...it seems that he is not at home, sir."

"Or did you just find an empty house to fool us?" Leslaufer waved his hand to signal the others to wait for a moment, and then he and Vondar approached one after the other.

The possibility was not high, after all, the characteristics here were very easy to identify. And soon, Feng Dahl found more powerful evidence.

"That symbol, Lao Lei," the dwarf's eyes flickered with a strange light in the dim light, "the one with five tentacles."

Chapter 223 Stuffy Blanket

The poet's light magic quickly illuminated the few rooms in the wooden house. Needless to say, the damp, moldy and even more indescribable smells in the rooms were extremely strong. It seemed that Wood had indeed lived here for quite some time and had continued to live here until recently.

In the most eye-catching place of the house, there was a piece of cloth with a familiar pattern. The coarse cloth covered the entire wall, so it was no wonder that farmers like Barry remembered it.

Once you’ve been here, it’s hard to forget - after all, this is one of the few places here that can be considered clean.

Soon, the crowd that squeezed in discovered that this pattern was different from the previous one: in this picture, the upward twisted line was transformed into a shape like an ear of wheat, but at the end of the "ear of wheat" was an exaggerated sickle.